Freeze and Burn
by BreadlessSandwich
Summary: Everything is well in Arendelle, peace was restored and the sisters are bonded once again. But Hans' problems has just begun. He has to face his 12 brothers and accept punishment from them. Now he wishes to get a second chance in order to fix his mistakes and to find out who "Hans" really is.


The sun was at its peak, the people of the Southern Isles were busy doing their daily businesses. Five sets of eyes waited patiently, all searching for a boat that was expected to come. The eldest prince was toying with his long, black hair that was fixed in a low ponytail. The fourth prince passed the time by reading a book that he brought along. The fifth prince sat on a poor barrel that could barely hold his weight. The twins were merely commenting about the women that passed by their sights.

After nearly an hour of waiting, the said ship was finally on sight. Proudly waving the flag of Arendelle, they'll finally get to see their brother once again. Hans had asked for their permission to go and attend the coronation of the young Queen Elsa, little did they know that he had been planning something else. With the plan as a failure, the youngest brother brought home no souvenirs but more problems instead.

"Oh joy, here he comes." Says the large man while cracking his knuckles.

"Well what can you do? He's still and always will be our brother." Replied the man with a book in his clutches.

"Oh sure, a bothersome brother to be exact." The younger twin rolls his eyes.

"Well, what are you planning to mend this problem, big brother?" All eyes turn towards the prince in his usual dark-colored attire.

"Which one?" He asked.

"The problem about Hans?"

"Which one?" He asked again.

"The thing about Arendelle?"

"Which one?" He asked once again, getting more and more irritated.

"You know, that whole failure scheme of his. That marrying-into-the-throne-then-kill-my-wife-and-her-sister attempt, remember?"

"Oh that, I don't know." He shrugs his shoulders. "You know, be specific next time, I have a lot of things on my plate with little time to finish them all, I'm just a man Pryce, not some god."

Everyone turned silent as they watched the ship stop. The board was set down and the jingling of shackles rang. A familiar figure slowly made its way down. That rust-colored hair bounced up and down as he stepped closer and closer. His green eyes met their unyielding gaze, some held contempt yet others looked somewhat passive.

"Ermm… Welcome home Hans…" The bookworm stopped reading and greeted the chained prince.

Hans merely bowed down in response, he can't look at his brothers right in the eye after what he had done.

"Hans, wow, just wow, amazing!" The man in black started sarcastically clapping. "Not only did you prove yourself worthless, but you exceeded my expectations in being a liability."

The Arendellian guards unchained him, Hans fixes his wrists after being bound for days. It was quite a trip from Arendelle to the Southern Isles, he might have enjoyed it if he was on the ship as a prince rather than a prisoner. It's just one punishment to another, possibly a worse one. Knowing his brothers, he kind of wished he was still back at Arendelle.

"Aren't you going to run away?" The muscular one asked.

"Really, and give you a reason to punch me? I'm not stupid Stephen." Hans darted back with a scowl.

"Oh so you think you're smart huh?"

"No, not really, but I know I am _far_ smarter than you." That reply made the twins giggle and the other tried to keep his smile behind his book.

"Why you little twit!" Stephen raised one his massive arms up in the air, only to be stopped by the eldest brother who was even smaller than him.

"You already have a bad case of picking brawls and violence Stephen, if you won't have respect for others then at least have some for yourself."

"Why are you stopping him Faust? I know you're just itching to do the same."

Faust placed his gloved left hand upon Hans' head. He gently tousled his hair and said with a smile.

"My little brother Hans, I would never do something _this_ bad to you." His look suddenly morphs to a cold and emotionless stare. "For what you have done, I plan on doing something worse."

Hans froze in fear, he knew that look, in fact he vividly remember when he last saw it. It was the day when the second brother challenged Faust to a duel to the death, it happened when the eldest prince moved to strip him off all his royal rights, regarding about his treasonous acts. What happened was not a duel, but more of a manslaughter, Simon never stood a chance. Faust left the scene covered in blood with his sword skewered through his opponent. It was also the day that Hans realized what sort of family he has born into, if he would not learn how to fight for himself, then Death was not far behind.

Hans could imagine what inhuman thoughts are running through that man's head. It could be anything, but surely it would be devoid of one thing.

Mercy.

"Verne, have you told everyone about the meeting today?" Faust asked his brother who was too absorbed by the book he's reading.

"Yes, fortunately the message was not delayed, even though the sudden snowfall came about." Verne closed his book while tapping the stem to his chin, pondering about something.

"Do you have any explanation for that?" Pryce, one of the twins inquired.

"Surely you have a complete and logical explanation, with a book stuck to your face all the time, I doubt that there is a question in this world you can't answer." Bruce added, poking Verne on the forehead playfully.

"No, I have none." He said as he shooed Bruce away. "Even though I spent the last two nights looking for an answer, it eludes me that how snow could happen in the middle of summer."

"I'm pretty sure that is also Hans' fault." Stephen crossed his arms as he gave a rather absurd accusation.

Hans didn't speak up, he knew why that happened, and as ridiculous as his brother's accusations were, he was indirectly responsible for that event. He remembered how Queen Elsa freaked out when Anna asked for her blessing for their impromptu marriage. That moment he saw what she was capable of, he realized that things wouldn't be as simple as he first planned it out to be.

However, he can't remove the thought of Elsa from his head. She swept him off his feet the moment they met, but he had a plan to continue and the love-hungry Anna was a much more feasible option rather than the cold and distant Elsa. He had second-thoughts throughout the whole thing, he could just start over and woo the princess or the queen like a normal prince, but no, greed took over him and ultimately caused his plan to fail.

"Enough of this, let's head back to the castle and discuss this thoroughly." Faust suggested as he lead the way.

The other brothers followed and Hans had to reluctantly comply. Strangely enough there were no carriages to take them, not even horses to ride on. Instead they had to walk their way it was also odd that nobody complained or maybe nobody _dared_ to complain. Hans knew this was a part of Faust's plan, he wanted to humiliate him before he would kill him. _Wonderful._

Hans began looking around, the commoners were whispering as they saw him, sharing gossips about the rumors they have heard. Hans couldn't care less anyway, in about a week's time he would be executed. Like a candle, all of his problems would be simply, *whoosh* snuffed away.

Suddenly, Hans felt a tugging feeling on his pants. It was from a little girl who held a small, pink flower. He recognized the girl, her name was Cassandra and he used to play with her if he had any free time.

"Pwince Hans! It's me, 'member?" The little girl called out.

"Of course Cassandra, how are you doing?" Hans knelt down to talk to her at eye level.

"I'm doing fine, but you don't look like you're fine. People are saying you are bad, Pwince Hans, but I know you are a good pwince."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Hans felt a bit teary eyed upon hearing those. "Just take care of yourself alright?"

"Okay, I will. Hey, Pwince Faust!" The eldest prince stopped in his tracks. "Pwomise me, nothing bad is going to happen to Pwince Hans 'kay?"

Faust's hand curled up in to a ball, he can't bring himself to look at the innocent and oblivious child then say no. He meekly shook his head as a way to say yes, but everyone else knew that would be a lie.

As the child happily skipped away, Faust turned around to look at her. Verne was quite concerned for his brother's sake, he knew that Faust lost something very dear to him long ago, Cassandra reminded him of something, a family that he once lost.

"Alright, no more of those distractions." Faust's voice was shaky. "We better keep going."

Hans' tears rolled down from his eyes to his cheeks. He was sobbing quietly, a futile attempt to show no weakness. The others were quite distraught of what they witnessed as well. They knew Hans' was indeed troublesome, if not outright evil, but they knew he still had a heart.

The gates opened and the siblings entered the grand hall. Like the commoners, most of the servants murmured to each other as they saw their arrival. They went up the stairs, passing various paintings of past kings and queens. Each one of the brothers stopped and took a bow as they passed by a painting of a beautiful woman with radiant skin and pitch-black hair, their deceased mother, Queen Evangeline.

Hans was only six when she passed away, with no mother by his side, he would always be bullied by his elder brothers. He grew up gathering grudges and anger towards them, but he couldn't do anything, being the youngest of them all. Hans tried his best to please his father, who held high expectations for each and one of them, but he was always outshone by his brothers and he would get mocked or scolded for it.

They arrived at a room where royal meetings would be gathered, in the middle of the room was a huge round table with fifteen chairs, once for each brother and the king and queen. The other brothers were there as well, Leo, the third prince who was also the high general. Kaz, the sixth prince, who works with Leo as a co-general. Brandon, the eighth prince, who was responsible in arranging trading and businesses with the other kingdoms. Emil, the tenth prince, who is also an admiral like Hans. Following Hans' expectations, the other two princes, Hector and Robert, who had ignored him for two years had not attended.

"Hey there Hans, I heard you had quite an adventure back there in Arendelle, pity that your plan failed though." Leo waved his hand up.

"Brother, pity is only for the weak and a prince should never be weak." Kaz' sharp tongue drove through Hans' heart like a spear.

"Faust what were you thinking anyway? Sending a child to do a man's job?" Emil complained, tapping his fingers against the wooden table. "You could have just sent someone else, you had at least ten options, yet you went for the most stupid one."

The princes sat down, each on their intended seats. Hans looked at his chair longingly, he wanted to sit down but alas he could not. The eldest prince rested his hands midst the piles of paper in front of him. Faust wore only a single black glove on his left hand, leaving the other bare. When asked about this, he would merely reply that he had lost the other one, but still had to give the remaining one purpose.

"Can we get this over with? I still have lots of things to do, my wife expects me to come home tonight and I don't want to disappoint her." Brandon said with a yawn, apparently tired from travelling day in and day out.

"Wait, isn't father going to attend? Aren't we going to invite him?" Verne asked.

"I do not think that would the best course of action my dear brother." Leo answered. "Time has turned him frail and old, giving him rest would be ideal. Besides, I believe we could still handle this."

"Leo is right, I believe we are _or_ most of us are mature enough to give a rational and intelligent decision." Faust added.

Hans felt dismayed about his brothers' decision. He wanted to see his father at least for the last time but he doubted that he could still face him after causing nothing but trouble in the family. The last thing his father would ever want is a failure of a son.

"Alright, I move that Hans would be hanged." Emil spoke up.

"Hanged? Pfft, he should be beheaded for what he had done!" Stephen suggested ecstatically.

The convicted merely listened in silence as he was barely horrified with each passing suggestion from their mouths. It came to no surprise to him that he they would even think of such horrendous methods. Though some are reluctant to participate, most of them have their minds set of executing him and what matters is the voice of the majority.

Kaz' hand slowly raised up, taking the attention of the brothers. "You know, I heard something about a punishment reserved for those who had committed treason, I believe they called it Hanged, Drawn and Quartered." A dark smile slowly built up on his face. "Verne, what do you know about that?"

"What the hell Kaz?! That is far too barbaric and I cannot allow you to do such a thing. I don't care if you are that much of a sadist but don't bring it in here especially during family matters!" Verne angrily reprimands him.

"Really now Verne? What are you going to do? Bore me to death with those books?" Kaz replied.

"If you're looking for a fight, you've got it. Hans maybe the most problematic, impulsive and troublesome prince but he is still our brother, and I will not stand down to any act that would desecrate that!" Verne threw his book down and stood up which prompts Kaz to stand up as well.

Hans' feeling lightened when he saw that Verne would actually do something to protect him. Verne, out of all his brothers, was the most compassionate. Their interests may have been different but Verne would still find a way to connect with him. Verne, always kept his door slightly open for him, which meant a lot for Hans.

Midst the chaos that started between the two princes, Hans noticed that his brother Faust was in perfect serenity has he reread the invitation letter from Arendelle. He is oblivious about what's around him, feeling like this kind of arguments happen on the daily basis and from what he remembers this does happen on a daily basis.

"ENOUGH!" Faust hand slammed on the table with a thunderous roar, making the sleeping Brandon wake up and fall over his chair.

"I have decided on what to take as a course of action."

_Hans will be executed as soon as possible._

"I declare that Prince Hans of the Southern Isles,-."

_Hans will be executed._

"is charged with treason with his actions against the Kingdom of Arendelle, and will be-"

_Executed._

…

…

…

"kept in the palace dungeon until the problem has been fully resolved."

_…_

_…_

_…_

_Execu- Wait, what?_

Everyone stood in silence, but the question of a flat "What" could be read from their faces. Even Hans, who had expected death all this time, was surprised by the sudden spur of events.

"What are you doing?! You are supposed to be the next king and you must not tolerate these crimes, brother or not, he deserves to die!" Kaz angrily protested.

"You people aren't fond of thinking things thoroughly, if he were to die, he would not suffer the weight of his mistakes. I believe that he should help in fixing this mess he had started, whether he likes it or not." Faust kept his cool composure talking to his enraged brother.

"Is this over?" Brandon stretched out his arms. "Can we go home now?"

"Yes you may." The sleepy prince stood up and finally took his leave. "Hans will be guarded closely all day round and if anyone dares to disobey that, they'll find themselves in graves earlier than he would."

The princes stood up and each one left quietly, except for Kaz who feels he still has a bone to pick with Hans. He charges at him then grabs him by the collar and proceeds to raise him off to ground to get a good punch to the face.

"Don't think I'm through with you yet!" His maddened roar was halted by the sound of swords being sheathed.

"Faust's words were clear Kaz, no harm is to be done with Hans." Pryce reminded him while pointing his blade towards Kaz.

"The punishment was clear as well, if you were that excited to kill your brother, I find no reason to do the same to you." Bruce joined his twin.

Kaz dropped Hans down, punched the wall in anger and stomped away. The twins placed their swords back and helped the youngest prince stand up. Faust's eyes were still glued to the letter and another report. He then placed them aside gestured Hans to sit down.

"Before I send you to the dungeons, I want you to answer some questions. There were rumors regarding the Sudden Snow, most of them points the reason towards Arendelle. You were there, weren't you, so what do you know about it?"

"What makes you think I would not lie to you?" Hans asked back.

"Simple, you are not stupid enough to go directly against me."

"Alright fine, but I doubt you would believe me anyway." Hans took a deep breath and fixes his position.

"Everything that happened about the unnatural frost was caused by the queen of Arendelle."

"How exactly did a queen cause all of this?" Bruce questioned.

"Queen Elsa has power over ice."

"I-I'm sorry Hans, but I can't believe you with that. Magic or sorcery isn't real, it's just something in fiction to explain things that are too complex to be understood." Verne responded.

"I knew you would say that Verne, but she had endangered her sister and the kingdom when her powers could not be controlled." Hans continued.

"So… simply, a wizard did it, or in this case, a mysterious and absurdly young queen did it." Pryce commented on his statement.

"If you don't believe me, fine, but what I am saying is the truth." Hans stood up and walked outside. "I'll find my way to the dungeon, don't worry I won't try to escape."

Still, the twins escorted him on the way down, leaving Faust and Verne behind. Faust slouched himself and rested his head on the table. Verne took the letter and read it for himself.

"Now that's over, how much more do I need to do?" Faust asked.

"I thought you knew that there are still a lot more."

"Ughhh… Somebody shoot me."

"You really need some sort of vacation."

Faust's head sprang up upon hearing Verne's idea. '"Vacation… Nah, something a little less hectic than this would suffice. Well unfortunately I can't, I still have to take care of problems here and there… *sigh* It sucks to be the king."

"You better get used to it regent. Anyway, about Hans' explanation, would you believe that?" Verne asked.

"He had no reason to lie this time, but if that was the case, then Queen Elsa should be responsible for all the damages dealt."

"I doubt that changes their relationship issue with us though. Hans bit more than what all of us could chew, we need their products and such and our name is also on the line."

"Indeed, we must give a formal apology to them."

"A letter would not be enough, doing that might insult them even." Verne said as he folded the invitation in half.

"Exactly, so we'll give the apology ourselves."

"Elsa, are you alright? You seem to be looking somewhere far away." Anna asked her sister, who sat down in front of the window that overlooks the kingdom of Arendelle.

"No Anna, I am merely admiring the view up here. It's been such a long time that these windows were opened. It's such a shame that I have been missing this." Elsa answered.

"I know, I can see people talking, children playing, I could even hear their laughter. I know that you'll do well as the queen Elsa, their lives will become better in your leadership."

"Actually, that is what have been bothering me all this time, what if I fail as the queen, what if I can't meet up with their expectations, what if I am not enough?" Elsa's hands trembled to the thought of her failing.

Anna placed her hand upon the queen's shoulder. "Relax Elsa, I believe you'll do fine. If anything happens, I promise you, I'll always be by your side." Her smile regained some of Elsa's lost confidence.

The young queen gazed upon the sky once again. Now she knows she is not alone but she has this strange feeling that something bad is going to happen. Yes, the blizzard may be over, but a greater storm is coming.

And indeed a _storm_ was coming.


End file.
